Holistic approaches to mental health that go beyond traditional medication-based therapies are often necessary for older adults (OAs). Forest bathing is a nature-based intervention that combines guided walks with mindfulness activities and has emerged as a complementary alternative to conventional therapies that promote mental well-being. However, most existing forest bathing programs are designed for the general population and may not adequately address the specific needs of OAs, particularly those experiencing mental health challenges. This feasibility study explored how forest bathing can be tailored for OAs. Using surveys, interviews, and focus groups with OAs (N = 15) and program delivery partners (N = 9), we found a synergistic effect of combining nature-based interventions with group-based program delivery. The program was seen by OAs as more than a nature experience, emphasizing improved social connection among those who experienced isolation and depression. The results highlight the importance of tailoring program content and delivery to accommodate diverse abilities, preferences, and life circumstances in later life. The study also proposes a practical implementation framework that integrates personal, social, environmental, and institutional dimensions to guide the design, adaptation, and integration of nature-based mental health programs for OAs.
Ecopsychology argues that mental health cannot be understood separately from ecological conditions, but much of its quantitative evidence base still approaches nature mainly as an external therapeutic resource that acts on individuals. This article suggests that this way of framing the issue is epistemologically insufficient in the context of climate and environmental crisis, where ecological loss, fragility, and unequal exposure to harm are not peripheral concerns but part of what shapes psychological life itself. It develops mycelial knowing as a framework for ecopsychological knowledge production. Instead of using fungi as metaphors, the article turns to specific fungal ecologies and to debates within mycological science as an evidence-based way of rethinking how ecopsychological explanations are produced. Drawing on a conceptually structured narrative review of research on greenspace exposure, ecological grief, fungal ecology under global change, and common mycorrhizal networks, the article identifies four epistemological commitments, which are distributed causality, threshold visibility, non-purist transformation, and disciplined relationality. It also explains the mechanism through which these commitments are developed, which is heuristic and epistemic transfer under evidential constraint. In this way, the framework brings together the affirmative literature on nature contact and the literature on crisis without collapsing one into the other, while also locating ethical obligations within the process of knowledge production itself.
Growing evidence links nature contact to improved physical and mental health, yet self-reported measures often rely on undefined concepts of “time in nature.” While experts define nature spaces broadly, from national parks to houseplants, it is unclear if the public shares this view. This study examined how adults perceive the “nature richness” of various environments to determine which spaces the public considers valid for nature contact. A stratified panel sample of U.S. adults ( N = 303) completed an online survey rating 16 specific places on a scale from 0 (absolutely zero nature contact) to 100 (complete nature experience). Places were categorized into three subscales: Open Nature (e.g., national parks, lakes), Integrated Nature (e.g., yards, neighborhoods), and Mediated Nature (e.g., VR, screens). Participants held a hierarchical view of nature. Only five of the 16 items received median ratings above 50/100, with Open Nature destinations rated significantly higher than Integrated Nature spaces found in daily life. Mediated Nature was rated lowest overall; however, Black participants rated Mediated Nature significantly higher than all other racial/ethnic groups. Nature connectedness positively predicted ratings across all categories. Results reveal a disconnect between expert and public definitions of nature. By largely discounting Integrated Nature (backyards, neighborhoods), the public may under-report nature contact in standard health surveys. Furthermore, the higher endorsement of Mediated Nature among Black participants may reflect structural inequities in access to safe outdoor green spaces (the “Nature Gap”). Future surveillance tools should differentiate between “time outdoors” and “time in nature” to accurately capture health-promoting exposure.
The family, as a primary context for child socialization, plays a significant role in shaping children's pro-environmental behavior (PEB). However, few studies have systematically examined the formation of such behaviors from the perspective of parent-child interactions in the environmental domain. The present research consists of two studies. Study 1 aimed to conceptualize the structure of "pro-environmental parent-child interaction" (PEPCI) and develop a corresponding measurement tool. Results indicated that this construct comprises four dimensions: guided interaction, participatory interaction, reverse interaction, and behavioral demand interaction. The developed scale demonstrated good reliability and validity. In Study 2, a survey was conducted among 1086 fourth- to sixth-grade primary school students to examine the relationships among PEPCI, nature connectedness, perceived parental action, and children's PEB. The results revealed that PEPCI positively predicted children's PEB. Both perceived parental action and nature connectedness mediated the relationship between parent-child interaction and PEB independently. Furthermore, a chain mediation effect was identified, indicating that parent-child interaction enhanced perceived parental behavior, which in turn strengthened children's connection to nature, ultimately promoting PEB. This research provides empirical support and practical insights for family-based pro-environmental education.
Previous research has demonstrated via a magnetoencephalography visual mismatch response (vMMR) paradigm that prediction-based neurophysiological mechanisms shielded the self from existential threat by attributing death to the other. A failed large-scale replication attempt of the paradigm, which took place in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, serendipitously allowed an exploratory ecological investigation of whether these death-denial brain mechanisms adapted to life situations in which mortality salience critically increased. Additionally, while a link between death processing and environmental concern has been previously hypothesized in the literature, it has not been rigorously demonstrated. Fifty participants underwent the vMMR death-denial task, measures of fear and anxiety of death, measures of death-related thought and behaviors avoidance, and an environmental attitudes survey. Overall, the vMMR results' pattern supports their interpretation as indicating that the brain's mortality defenses were impacted by COVID-19, with some evidence further suggesting that these were re-emerging as time passed from the pandemic's onset. Additionally, a hierarchical regression showed that measures of death avoidance and denial-on the levels of neurophysiology, thought, and behavior-predicted pro-environmental concern, but that fear and anxiety of death did not. These findings highlight the malleability of the brain's response to existential threat under extreme real-life conditions and demonstrate their possible downstream impact on pro-environmental attitudes.
Global warming is altering human habitats, propelling infectious diseases and socioeconomic stressors from tropical regions into temperate zones. Contrary to expectations of rising pessimism under such environmental pressures, this study finds that shared optimism—the collective degree of expectation regarding personal life progress—can persist and even flourish there. Drawing on survey data from nearly two million native inhabitants of 166 countries, we examine the extent to which relatively high levels of shared optimism may function as a compensatory mechanism for coping with environmental adversity. We identify year-round tropical stability in daylength, temperature, and precipitation periods as a key factor linked to steep increases in shared optimism over a 5-year horizon. That relation is mediated by chronic stressors, including parasite burden, national poverty, and social inequality, and is generalizable to long-term optimism about collective human progress over the next millennium. These findings reveal a meaningful contrast in the temporal prospect gradient of shared optimism: compensatory optimism displays a steep upward trajectory in stable yet chronically stressful tropical environments, whereas noncompensatory optimism follows a gentler ascent in variable and less stressful environments. This distinction informs the hypothesis that compensatory optimism serves as a rapidly activated resilience mechanism, offering governing bodies a psychobehavioral tool to support communities facing intensifying environmental stress. As climate change expands, the dynamics we document may become increasingly relevant. Societies may more effectively adapt to the multifaceted consequences of global warming by recognizing and leveraging the rise of compensatory optimism in the Anthropocene.
This study examines the relations among spiritual intelligence (SI), connectedness to nature (CN), and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in a sample of 251 Indonesian university students. Employing a cross-sectional design, the study utilized a two-step analytical approach involving Rasch analysis to validate scale reliability and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the structural model. Rasch analysis confirmed the robustness of the SI, CN, and PEB instruments, continuing the transformation of raw data into logit scores. Descriptive and correlational results indicated moderate positive associations among the three constructs. PLS-SEM analysis revealed a positive relation between SI and PEB (beta = 0.251, p < 0.001) and a strong relation between SI and CN (beta = 0.576, p < 0.001). Additionally, CN was positively related to PEB (beta = 0.280, p < 0.001). The mediation analysis also indicated that CN partially mediates the relation between SI and PEB, suggesting that SI relates to green action through heightened ecological connectedness. The model explained a moderate level of variance (R-2 = 0.332 for CN; R-2 = 0.222 for PEB) with adequate predictive relevance. Theoretically, this study integrates SI into environmental psychology literature. Practically, the findings emphasize the role of spiritual reflection and nature connectedness in fostering sustainable behaviors among Indonesian youth.
Not all pro-environmental behaviors are equally effective in fostering sustainable habits. Psychological mechanisms, such as moral licensing, can paradoxically reduce the positive impact of well-intentioned actions. In this preregistered quasi-experimental study (N = 514), we examined how curtailment behaviors (e.g., recycling) and efficiency behaviors (e.g., adopting a vegan/vegetarian diet) differently influence moral credentials and subsequent pro-environmental actions. Results showed that salient curtailment behaviors lowered guilt and perceived environmental impact after unsustainable actions, creating a potential licensing effect, whereas efficiency behaviors mitigated this effect and promoted further sustainable behavior. Crucially, feelings of guilt and perceived environmental impact predicted later pro-environmental engagement. These findings highlight that encouraging high-impact efficiency behaviors may prevent moral licensing and support more consistent, sustainable choices, offering actionable insights for interventions aimed at fostering lasting environmental behavior change.
In the context of global ecological crises, relational moral reasoning offers an important lens for understanding pathways toward a sustainable future. Historically, environmental moral psychology has relied on a binary distinction between anthropocentric (human-centered) and biocentric (nature-centered) reasoning. We propose a tripartite framework that centers relational moral concerns for reciprocity, harmony, kinship, and interdependence, advancing (1) relationships among people embedded in nature (living in), (2) relationships between people and the natural world (living with), and (3) relationships grounded in relational embeddedness (living as). Each orientation can be expressed through corporeal (physical, functional), metacorporeal (socio-emotional, cultural, spiritual), and ecorelational-justice (rights, fairness, responsibility) forms. Relational moral reasoning is a qualitatively distinct mode of moral concern. We position relationship-centered moral reasoning alongside the established framework, expanding the analytic and theoretical explanatory scope of environmental moral psychology. Drawing on over two decades of empirical research with children and adults across cultural contexts, we offer a proof-of-concept illustration of how relational concerns emerge in moral thought. Relational moral reasoning is developmentally present, psychologically rich, and culturally diverse, and it warrants explicit analytic attention. Centering relational moral concerns in psychological research contributes to the growing "relational turn" in sustainability and psychological sciences by clarifying how relationships themselves garner moral attention, with implications for research, education, policy, and practice. As a conceptual and generative contribution, this paper expands the tools available for studying environmental moral reasoning by making relational moral concerns more visible and empirically tractable.
In recent years, mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) have yielded promising outcomes. Concurrently, growing evidence supports the mental health benefits of nature exposure, leading to increased interest in nature-based interventions. Nature connectedness-how strongly one feels connected to nature-is associated with improved well-being, particularly stress reduction. Research points toward a reciprocal relationship between mindfulness and nature connectedness, suggesting increased benefits of interventions combining them. Additionally, the neuropeptide oxytocin has gained attention for its potential in alleviating SSD symptomatology. This exploratory study examined the combined effects of mindfulness, nature, and oxytocin on SSD in the context of a mindfulness-based group therapy (MBGT) with a nature-focus. Forty-one (age range 24-64 years) participants with SSD were randomly allocated to two groups and received either intranasal oxytocin (24 I.U. Syntocinon (R)) or placebo 30 min before they underwent two 50-min MBGT sessions consisting of an introduction, mindfulness exercises, sharing and goal-setting. The Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (INS) and visual analogue scales for stress were administered before and after sessions. ANCOVA revealed no significant between-group differences; however, within-subject analyses revealed significant increases in nature connectedness and reductions in stress in both groups. Additionally, increases in nature connectedness were significantly associated with reduced stress. While no significant differences were found between the MBGT modules (breathing vs. senses in nature), within-group analyses revealed significant improvements of more outcome measures after the nature-focused session. These findings offer preliminary support for integrating mindfulness, nature, and oxytocin in SSD treatment. Future research with larger samples is needed to clarify their individual and combined effects.
A growing body of research demonstrates the benefits of nature. Several reviews have been published on the association between nature exposure and mental and physical health among adults and children. Less is known about the benefits of nature for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and their children. To address this gap, this scoping review applies Herman's Trauma Theory to examine existing research on nature engagement and exposure among IPV survivors and their children. The research questions included (1) how do survivors and their children engage with nature in community and shelter settings, and (2) to what extent is nature beneficial for survivors and their children? Seven studies were included in the scoping review, describing (1) how outdoor environments are utilized at IPV shelters and (2) the benefits for survivors and children, including creating a space for play, enhancing therapy services, and facilitating social connectedness. Findings demonstrated that more studies focused on nature exposure compared with engagement, and all studies discussed the relationship between nature and strengthening social relationships. Findings from this scoping review show a burgeoning research base that highlights the importance of nature in the healing of IPV survivors and their children, particularly in terms of emotional well-being, social connection, and family bonding. This scoping review also reveals how nature can enhance therapeutic services by providing a space for the release of negative emotions and physical energy, as well as offering opportunities for mindfulness. More research is needed that incorporates principles of trauma theory. Additional research is also needed that centers on the voices of survivors and their children.
Nature-based interventions (NBI) and Green Prescriptions (GRx) have renewed interest in the relationship between human well-being and ecosystems, yet their implementation often risks reproducing the utilitarian logic underlying environmental degradation. Reciprocity between humans and Nature is increasingly invoked as a promising principle for restoring individual and Planetary Health. However, while appealing, this framework risks falling into a transactional model rooted in symmetry and apparent equivalence, obscuring the complexity and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystem functioning. This work explores reciprocity within Nature-based health interventions and ecosystem services, revealing paradoxes and limitations and arguing for a shift from transactional reciprocity toward interconnectedness and relational interbeing. Such awareness is crucial when humans interact with ecosystems to benefit from their restorativeness and therapeutic potential. We discuss how high-biodiversity and ecologically vulnerable environments derive therapeutic potential from their rarity and sensitivity, making unrestricted access for tourism, recreation, or health practices ecologically untenable. We propose that NBI and GRx must integrate, alongside clinical protocols, considerations of ecosystem health, carrying capacity, nonhuman life needs, and cumulative pressures arising when therapeutic use overlaps with other human presence. Biocultural perspectives further emphasize relational embeddedness and kinship obligations, aligning with One Health and Planetary Health principles that view human well-being as inseparable from ecosystem vitality. We propose that genuine care for Nature may not require "doing more" or "faster," but doing less and more slowly: exercising self-restraint, reducing pressure on ecosystems, renouncing control, and tempering the human ego to prioritize Nature's evolved processes over active interventions. Ethical and operational implications include reframing conservation and ecological management around self-limitation, intergenerational justice, and recognition of nonhuman agency, fostering coexistence over compensation.
This article situates this Special Issue (SI) on Nature and Health within a rapidly evolving field that is beginning to move beyond narrow, exposure-based paradigms. Inspired by the 10 articles introduced here, we highlight critical questions about how the field might expand conceptually and methodologically, offering insights that challenge dominant assumptions and open space for approaches grounded in cultural specificity, lived experience, historical depth, and ecological context. In our view, the contributions in this SI continue to mobilize the field toward a pluriversal nature and health science; they invite an attentiveness to multiple worlds, diverse ways of knowing and being, and the ethnocognitive, linguistic, and semiotic dimensions of life. We situate this SI in dialogue with earlier Nature and Health collections, acknowledging how each has advanced the field by identifying, for example, structural inequities, naming epistemic exclusions, and proposing new research agendas. Building on these foundations, this issue expands the conversation, one step toward, to more relational ontologies that dissolve the human-nature divide and encourage methodological innovation. To honor the dialogic and relational ethos that motivated the call, we invited contributing authors to articulate, in their own voices, the key insights they hope readers will carry forward. Their reflections emphasize themes of relational emplacement and emotional scale, mammalsensing (the evolution-based sensory grounding of cognition and psychological life), community-centered inquiry, and reciprocity. Taken together, this introduction offers not a unified voice for the collection but an expanded horizon: a field in motion, engaging the pluriverse, and opening pathways toward more just, diverse, and relational futures in nature and health scholarship.
Although spiritual experiences in ecotherapy are increasingly recognized for their therapeutic potential, little is understood about how participants experience spirituality in ecotherapy and how they describe the psychological significance of these experiences. This gap calls for a synthesis of qualitative findings to clarify the qualities and therapeutic effects of these experiences. This systematic review employed thematic synthesis to integrate findings from diverse qualitative and mixed-method studies into a unified dataset. The integrated data were then analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, through which key themes were identified. Three themes illuminate participants' spiritual experiences: Witnessing Life Essence Through the Lens of Nature, Immersion in the Immediacy of Nature, and A Sense of Oneness With the Natural World. Additionally, three themes reflect participants' understandings of the therapeutic effects of those experiences: Self-Acceptance Through Processing Remaining Pain, Liberation From the Constraints of the Past, and Reclaiming Hope Through a Renewed Sense of Life Purpose. Taken together, these findings suggest that spiritual experiences in ecotherapy appear to play a role in facilitating the therapeutic process. Such experiences may also promote participants' pro-environmental attitudes and restore their sense of hope amid environmental crises.
Mental health challenges among college students continue to raise concerns as university counseling centers struggle to meet the demand for services. In response, nature-based interventions have gained attention and popularity as effective treatment approaches, especially for traditional college-aged populations. This article outlines the development and evaluation of a peer mentoring program that uses nature-based experiences, guided by the tenets of Self-Determination Theory to boost well-being. Pre-post data were collected using the connectedness to nature scale and well-being index, while qualitative data were collected using an online, end-of-program survey. The results from this pilot study indicate that participation in a nature-based, peer mentoring program increased student connection to nature, well-being, and enhanced a sense of connection to the local community. Based on these initial outcomes, we explore the program's potential and offer recommendations for future research and program refinement.
Immersion in natural environments supports health and well-being; yet, research in this domain often does not adequately reflect the experiences of diverse communities. Given the ways in which individuals' identities and cultural backgrounds influence human-nature relationships, it is imperative to explore and document these dynamics. This study furthers this aim by amplifying the nature-based perspectives of Black men in the United States who completed a multiday outdoor retreat program led by the nonprofit organization Boyz N The Wood. This collaborative study uses a participatory mental modeling approach to ascertain the types of impacts the retreat had on participants and which activities and broader characteristics of the program facilitated those impacts. Thematic analysis of 19 mental modeling interviews revealed six impact types and three nature-based activity categories that gave rise to the identified impacts. We also identified a series of enabling and constraining characteristics that influenced the extent to which exposure to nature might influence the health and well-being of participants. We discuss these findings in depth and share the implications for both research and practice in the field of nature, health, and well-being.
Environmental crises such as climate change are among humanity's greatest contemporary challenges. Evidence-based interventions are urgently required that will both support human well-being during such crises and facilitate pro-environmental behavior. We developed a nature-based intervention (Act with Nature intervention or program; AWN) that aims to improve human well-being and encourage pro-environmental behavior. Logic models informed by our theoretical perspectives were developed to articulate and clarify the hypothesized mechanisms underpinning the intervention. These mechanisms support nature connectedness, efficient coping, and psychological processing. AWN includes nature-based exercises with different backgrounds and delivery methods as well as information and support for pro-environmental behaviors during the program. AWN lasts 12 weeks and has two different types of delivery tailored to participants' needs: the weekly group provides more intensive social support, while a flexible group allows for greater individual adaptability. Anticipated results of AWN are increased mental well-being and pro-environmental behavior through nature connectedness and more efficient coping related to environmental self-regulation. We describe the mechanisms of change and the expected outcomes through logic models. This enables researchers to follow how outcomes are grounded in theoretical assumptions and empirical evidence and to differentiate mechanisms from outcomes.
Authors explored how nature shapes learning experiences and personal development among university students participating in a 3-week study abroad program in Norway. Using photovoice methodology, this qualitative study engaged nine students, ranging from 21 to 28 years of age, with backgrounds in education and psychology in participatory action research through the use of photographs and reflections before, during, and after their immersive experiences focused on outdoor education, therapy, and place-based concepts. A thematic analysis yielded four broad themes: a deepening relationship with nature, nature as a path to self-discovery, reclaiming connection in a disconnected world, and nature as a teacher and healer. Findings illustrated the beginning of a transformational process from students as passive observers to embodied engagement with the natural environment; their language evolved from descriptive commentary to personal storytelling, reflecting deeper ecological consciousness that aligns with principles of deep ecology. Photovoice methodology appeared to facilitate critical self-reflection, metaphorical thinking, and collaborative learning while supporting interpersonal and intrapersonal growth. As research and programming continue to seek how structured nature-immersive experiences can foster ecological consciousness, we suggest practical applications for integrating experiential outdoor education into study abroad curricula to encourage environmental stewardship and personal transformation.
